Chapter 54: The Cook Out
"Food is the most primitive form of comfort." – Sheila Graham
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." – J. R. R. Tolkien
With Will and Francie both indisposed with dinner preparation; that left Sydney and Vaughn to themselves. She moved back over to sit on the chair with him and smiled.
"That was really fun…you gave me quite a run for my money Mr. Vaughn."
He smiled back, "Wanna play again?"
"Um, no…"
"Afraid you'll lose this time?"
"Why don't we play something else?"
"I can think of something else we can play."
"Down boy," she said smiling. She got up and came back with a box. "How about Othello? Do you know how to play?"
"Sydney…give me some credit here…yes, I know how to play."
She smiled, "Ok…"
She set the board up and laid it on Vaughn's lap. She made the first move and they both went into deep concentration mode. Sydney smiled when she saw a few forehead wrinkles appear on Vaughn's face as he strategized his next move. Sydney was more impressed with Michael Vaughn everyday. It seemed today was his day for him to strut his gaming ability, since he whipped her butt on the first game of Othello. She set up another board and checked the grill to see if the smoke was going to start coming over soon. They played another round, with Vaughn once again kicking her butt before the smoke got too thick for Sydney's liking. Vaughn didn't protest when Sydney insisted that they move farther into the lawn. Will and Sydney moved Vaughn while Francie moved the chair, until they were what Sydney deemed as a safe distance away from the harmful fumes and smoke.
Will looked particularly pleased and at home at the grill, the power of the meal at his fingertips. He was twirling the tongs in a silly manner until the flames rose and he was forced to really pay attention to what he was doing. Francie brought the meat out and Will set to grilling it. They both stood by the grill, talking until Francie disappeared to prepare the rest of the meal. By the time the meat was ready, Sydney had yet to beat Vaughn at Othello and she smiled as they moved the other chairs and the table closer to Vaughn, instead of making him move back towards the grill.
She watched Vaughn intently for a minute when he attempted to sit himself up more, and winced. She didn't want to hover, especially since he seemed to be doing so well today, but the wince that she saw warranted a comment from her, "Vaughn, you ok?"
"Yeah…I think I could use the pills though…"
"Oh my God! I didn't give them to you at lunch! What the hell was I thinking?" She ran off into the house, almost knocking Will over. He looked at Vaughn for an answer, but Sydney was back before he could even ask. She grabbed Vaughn's hand and deposited the pills in it.
"God, Vaughn. I am so sorry! I don't know what I was thinking! I wasn't…that's obvious."
Vaughn looked up at her, "Hey…it's ok…I really didn't need them until right now. It's ok that you were having fun Sydney…you don't always have to worry about my pain levels. I was fine…I was having fun too. Ok?"
She smiled at him, "Well, yeah, but that's no excuse to forget your medication!"
He smiled at her, "Really, it's ok…I'm ok…"
She took a deep breath, "Good."
Will and Francie looked at each other, nodding, crisis averted, and handed Vaughn and Sydney their plates. Will had grilled steaks and Francie had whipped up mashed potatoes. There was also fresh fruit on the plates and Vaughn smiled when he saw that Francie had cut up his steak and the fruit for him already. He looked over at her and she winked back. Will had left momentarily and came back with drinks, which Vaughn also smiled at when he realized Will was carrying four glasses of milk.
"You know guys, you can have something else…you can have a beer or something, you don't have to go cold turkey for the millions of months that I can't have beer."
They all smiled at Vaughn, and Will said, "Millions of months? Really? I can't have beer for millions of months?"
Vaughn smiled back, "You know what I meant."
"We know…and really, I don't mind," Will said.
Francie and Sydney both nodded their agreement.
"Ok…but just know you can, alright?"
They all nodded again and everyone started eating.
"This is so good guys," Vaughn said between mouthfuls. "Seriously, if I'd have known you two cooked this well, I'd have gotten injured a long time ago. A guy could really get used to this!"
"Thanks Michael," Francie said as Will nodded his thanks as well.
"I bet the food at the restaurant is even better," Michael added.
Francie blushed as Sydney and Will looked over at her and agreed. "I try," she said.
After the meal, Francie and Will cleaned up the plates and left Sydney and Vaughn alone again.
"Sydney?" Vaughn asked.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that Francie and Will are getting tired of doing all the cooking work and stuff and are just too nice to say anything?"
Sydney looked to Vaughn, "No sweetie, I don't think they are tired of doing it. They usually did it anyway, even if it was just us. Actually, Will would do it, the cleaning, most of the time because Francie made the meal, and I'd help out whenever. Really Vaughn, I don't think they mind. They have to eat anyway too."
"I know, but…well…I don't do anything around here…"
"That's ok Vaughn…you're recuperating."
"Yeah, but still, I'm here, I should do something to help out."
"You will honey, just not right now, ok? Give yourself a break, remember? Everyone else is."
He smiled, "You know, after I'm better, I'm going to have to be everyone's slave for like eons."
"Mmm…I could get used to that," Sydney said as she moved to the chair and laid her hands on his chest. "I could get used to that very easily." She moved up and kissed him, "You would have to be at my beck and call at all hours of the day," she added another kiss, "do whatever I wanted," another kiss, "wherever," another kiss, "anytime," another kiss, "I could so boss you around."
"But you already do that," he said with a wicked smile.
"Oh…is that how you want to play it? Well in that case, you'll never be in charge again!" She moved back and removed her hands from his chest, crossing them instead across her chest.
"Aw…I'm sorry…feel free to boss me at anytime."
She looked down at him, his eyebrows raised in helpless anticipation of her response. She made him squirm a little longer, pouting, and then moved back down, replacing her hands on his chest.
"Well, alright…" she said sighing. "You better watch yourself…or else you'll be in trouble."
"Ooo…trouble? I think I might like trouble…"
"I know you would," she said with a final kiss before Will and Francie reemerged from the kitchen.
"So, what do you guys wanna play now? I hear Mike totally kicked your ass in Othello…" Will said smiling.
"You know Will, you seem to like the idea of me losing more than you should."
"Well…can you blame me brainiac?"
"No, if you've got it…flaunt it…" she said with her chin high in the air.
Will laughed, "Cards?"
Sydney looked to Vaughn asking with her eyes, "Sure..." he said smiling. She moved to take his arm out of the sling again so he could hold the cards and everyone got in a sort of circle.
Will asked, "What card game should we play? Poker?" he said expectantly.
Francie shot him down, "No."
"Fine…then what?"
Francie smiled, "Rummy?"
"What kind?" Sydney asked.
"Gin?"
"Sure…" Sydney said.
Will looked to Vaughn, "Now we have to play chick cards too…just know…if you say Bridge, I'm quitting…"
Vaughn just smiled as Will started dealing. Sydney was once again impressed with Vaughn, as he seemed quite resourceful holding onto all of his cards, even with a total of four broken fingers. If he wanted a card or needed to discard one, he would hand it to Sydney or she would hand him a new one. It worked out quite well. They played several hands; no one in particular seemed to be the card shark. Once they were bored with that game, Will suggested Uno! and they played several hands of that as well. However, once Will had lost with about 50 cards in his hand, he suggested that perhaps they move onto yet another game.
"How about Bullshit?" Vaughn asked.
Will heartily agreed, "Yeah! Totally, let's play that."
Francie and Sydney agreed and Will once again dealt the cards. Sydney actually inwardly loved this game because since she was a spy, she was an excellent people-reader, and she could always tell when either Will or Francie were lying. She was interested to see if she could peg Vaughn to lying as well.
Will started, saying he had one 2 and Sydney bullshitted him before the card was even on the table.
He looked shocked, but put the card back into his hand. Sydney went next, laying down one 3 and then Vaughn laid down one 4. Francie laid down two 5's and Will bullshitted her. She lifted the cards and gave them to Will; she hadn't been lying.
"Shit," he said. "One 6."
Sydney could tell he was telling the truth and said, "One 7."
Vaughn said, "One 8."
Francie said, "One 9."
Play went on for several more rotations, and Sydney tried to read Vaughn's expressions when he laid down his cards, but she found that she thought he was telling the truth the whole time. She guessed that it was possible that he'd had all the cards he'd said, but she started to wonder if he was better at lying than she thought.
It was her turn and she deliberately lied, seeing if Vaughn would say anything, but he didn't.
Then it was her turn and he laid down his cards. She couldn't resist, she looked at him and said, "Bullshit."
Everyone looked rather shocked; Vaughn's eyebrows went up and he said, "Check them out."
Sydney turned over the cards, and found that he had told the truth. She smiled and took the cards.
Play continued. Sydney blatantly lied again and this time Vaughn said, "Bullshit."
She smiled and took the cards. Vaughn only had one card left. He laid it down and everyone stopped. Sydney was debating as to whether or not to call him on it, but then she didn't. Francie started to go but Sydney couldn't resist, "Vaughn, was that really a 4?"
He smiled, "What do you think?"
"I don't know," she said honestly.
"Are you afraid that I can lie really well?"
"No, I'm just curious…"
"Pick it up then," Vaughn offered.
The other two stayed silent as Sydney turned over the card. It was a 9. She looked to Vaughn whose smile had widened and one eyebrow was still raised.
"You lied," she said.
"That's the name of the game honey…are you mad because I won or because you weren't sure I was telling the truth?"
"Uh…do you guys want us to leave for a few minutes?" Will said sensing a topic that was not something they needed to get involved in.
"No," Sydney said, "It's ok…I'm not mad…" Sydney said addressing Vaughn again. "I'm just concerned that you're better at hiding things than I thought you were…"
"You lied too…" he reminded her.
"Yeah…" she agreed.
"You lied more than I said you did," he added.
Will and Francie exchanged glances but kept silent.
"Are you afraid you're losing your touch reading people?"
"No, but I'm afraid that I don't read you as well as I should."
"It's only a game Sydney," Vaughn also reminded Sydney.
"I know…" she moved her attention back to Will and Francie, "Let's just finish this round."
The game continued, but all the players seem to notice a tension in the air.
Eventually, Francie lost and Will pranced around because at least he beat someone.
It was getting darker out and the couples just sat in relative silence for a while, looking at the stars and enjoying the peace of the evening.
At about 9:00, Sydney realized that they hadn't done any exercises since that morning, "Vaughn, we need to do your exercises before we go to bed."
"Alright," he said.
"Let's go inside first," she added.
"Ok."
Will moved to help the couple get Vaughn inside, and they deposited him in the bed. Will left and Francie met him at the door, saying goodnight, Will promising to take care of the dog before going to bed himself.
"Thanks for the great day guys," Vaughn said as the two left.
"You bet! It was really a lot of fun, we've got to do it again soon," Francie said and then they left, shutting the door.
Sydney was very quiet as she helped Vaughn with the crunches. She really wasn't looking at him either. She made him do a few extra crunches because he'd skipped the other ones for the day.
After the crunches she finally looked at him saying, "If you're tired, we can skip the standing, you did enough of that today moving in and out of the house."
"We can stand," he said.
She nodded and helped him stand. He seemed less dizzy, and he didn't lean on her shoulder. He looked right at her face and finally she was forced to look him in the eyes. The jade fires pleaded with her to tell her what was going on. She looked at him for a few seconds, but then looked away. She helped him sit again and began removing his clothes and putting on his pajamas. He stopped her hands, "What's going on Sydney?" he asked quietly.
"Nothing, it's nothing…"
"Sydney…"
"What?"
"Didn't we agree that communication was best? Doesn't that work both ways?"
She nodded tiredly.
"So…" he prodded.
"I don't know Vaughn. I guess I thought I could read you better than that."
"Is this still about the stupid Bullshit game?"
"It's not about the game Vaughn…it's about that communication…if you can lie to me during a game, how do I know you haven't been lying to me about other things?"
"What you think I made up the shit they did you me?"
"No! No…that's not what I meant…" she sighed.
"Sydney, you lied during the game too…I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this."
"How do I know when you tell me you're ok that you aren't bullshitting just to make me feel better?"
"Sydney, you're confusing two completely different things here. Bullshit is a game where the object is to lie well…it's not like it's going to translate into real life. I don't lie to you…not in real time."
She looked at him again, looking into his eyes, trying to find any sign of untruth. His jade embers didn't waver in the least looking into her chocolate brown orbs. She smiled, "Ok…I'm sorry, I just worry that you won't tell me everything because you don't want it to hurt me or you don't want to burden me with it."
"Well…I don't tell you like every thought that crosses my mind Sydney, that would drive you nuts. If I need to talk, I do…ok?"
"Yeah…"
"I don't ask you if you're telling me the truth when I ask if everything is too much for you. I trust that you'd tell me if it was, even if I worry, I still trust you."
"I know…I trust you too…I just…I just have this feeling that you hold stuff back…and when I can see, even in a game, that you can lie about something, it only serves to confirm fears that I might have."
"Sydney, I tell you everything…"
"Do you?" she asked seriously.
"Everything I need to say…if I have something to say, I'll say it, ok?"
"Ok…"
"Are we ok now?"
She smiled, "Yeah, we're always ok Vaughn…" She leaned down to kiss him, leaning him back on the pillow and leaving his pajama top unbuttoned. She laid her head on his chest as his arm moved around to lie on her back.
"I'm sorry Vaughn…I didn't mean to sound like I don't trust you…I just worry about you."
"I know…I worry about you too." He could feel her smile and she leaned up again to kiss him.
She got up for a minute and turned off the lights, quickly changed out of her clothes and came back to the bed. She lay down again on Vaughn's chest and the two fell asleep in a contented embrace.
